Speaker 1: Don't we all find spies stories kind of intriguing? What's
Speaker 1: that about? Is it the idea that somebody can just
Speaker 1: slip through the cracks, gather intelligence and not be found out,
Speaker 1: or maybe we just want to see them get caught. Well,
Speaker 1: it turns out some of the most effective spies of
Speaker 1: the past two hundred years have been women who used
Speaker 1: intelligence and sex to get the info they wanted. I'm
Speaker 1: Patti Steele Undercover Female Heroes. Next on the backstory. We're
Speaker 1: back with the backstory. Why do we all love movies, books,
Speaker 1: TV shows about espionage? Well, I kind of think it's
Speaker 1: because it's exciting, exhilarating, and honestly, it's kind of sexy.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're fascinated by people who are willing to
Speaker 1: take a risk. James Bond movies are a perfect example
Speaker 1: of how much we love this genre and how sexy
Speaker 1: we think it is. In over sixty years, Double O
Speaker 1: seven movies have earned well over twenty one point three
Speaker 1: billion dollars at the box office by today's measure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we definitely love it. And now that Daniel Craig has
Speaker 1: hung up his tucks and parked his Aston martin dB five,
Speaker 1: there's constant disagreement about who the next bond should be.
Speaker 1: Some think it should be a woman, while others say
Speaker 1: that just doesn't make any sense. The story has always
Speaker 1: been about a guy, guys or spies, but let's take
Speaker 1: a peek at the real world of espionage. Women have
Speaker 1: played and continue to play, a really important role. Most
Speaker 1: of the time. It seems they're overlooked, but maybe that's
Speaker 1: exactly why they've been so successful. In the lead up
Speaker 1: to the Civil War, the roles of women were traditionally
Speaker 1: all about home, raising the kids, maintaining the house, cooking, sewing,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But honestly, it was during this
Speaker 1: horrific conflict that female spies came to the forefront. Think
Speaker 1: about it. Giant lacy, silky dresses with ridiculously full skirts,
Speaker 1: lots of flitting fans cooling those blushing faces. Women in
Speaker 1: the seats of power during the war were intelligent conversationalists
Speaker 1: and terrific party givers at best, and gorgeous playthings at worst,
Speaker 1: but they had access to the war's secret underbelly. They
Speaker 1: were around powerful men who called the shots when those
Speaker 1: men were at their most vulnerable, liquored up at parties,
Speaker 1: formal dinners and dances and in romantic situations. Rose Greenhouse
Speaker 1: was a widow and a social powerhouse in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: In the eighteen fifties and sixties. She invited prominent men
Speaker 1: to her townhouse and eventually managed to squeeze tons of
Speaker 1: valuable information out of them. She had romantic liaisons with
Speaker 1: some warm friendships with others, but the goal was always
Speaker 1: to get whatever info out of them she could and
Speaker 1: send it South. Even after she was arrested and placed
Speaker 1: under house arrest and put her in prison, she continued
Speaker 1: to get info to the Confederates until she was finally
Speaker 1: locked up in a Union prison, but it was a
Speaker 1: nice one. Eventually she was freed and traveled to Europe,
Speaker 1: representing the South in meetings with Queen Victoria and Napoleon.
Speaker 1: She was considered a Southern hero. Yet another Southern bell
Speaker 1: who spied for the rebels. Well it's eighteen sixty one
Speaker 1: in the Shenandoah Valley, seventeen year old Bell Boyd known
Speaker 1: as the Cleopatra of the Secession interesting she was one
Speaker 1: of the Confederacy's most fearless spies. Her legacy included shooting
Speaker 1: a Union soldier dead just for insulting her mother, but
Speaker 1: she had social standing and charm, and she used that
Speaker 1: to get critical information from the Union officers that she
Speaker 1: cozied up to and then relay it to Confederate generals
Speaker 1: who would suspect a charming teenager. Now on the other side,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth van Lew was a Union spy in the heart
Speaker 1: of the Confederacy. A high society philanthropist in Richmond, Virginia
Speaker 1: who was an avid abolitionist. She masterminded a major spy ring,
Speaker 1: including placing Mary Bowser, a brilliant former slave, right under
Speaker 1: the noses of the racist Confederate big shots. Mary had
Speaker 1: an extraordinary memory, and Elizabeth got her a job in
Speaker 1: the Confederate White House. Together they funneled vital secrets back
Speaker 1: to the Union in the North, and women have continued
Speaker 1: to play a huge role in the world of espionage.
Speaker 1: In World War One, there was the notorious Madhari. She
Speaker 1: was an exotic dancer from Holland who was convicted of
Speaker 1: being a spy for Germany and executed by firing squad.
Speaker 1: Now it's World War II. Virginia Hall was an American
Speaker 1: who joined the British Special Ops. She had lost her
Speaker 1: leg in a hunting accident, but that did not slow
Speaker 1: her down. She was instrumental in organizing the French resistance,
Speaker 1: putting together jail brakes, training guerrilla forces, and leading aabotage
Speaker 1: operations against the Nazis. Around the same time, another name
Speaker 1: sent chills down the spines of the Gestapo, Nancy Wake,
Speaker 1: also called the White Mouse. During her journey from journalists
Speaker 1: to the heart of the French resistance, she saved hundreds
Speaker 1: of lives, participated in daring raids, and regularly evaded capture.
Speaker 1: Then the Cold War began at the end of World
Speaker 1: War II, and the era of spy games like we
Speaker 1: see in all those great James bondflicks got underway. Intelligence
Speaker 1: became as powerful as firepower, and again female spies played
Speaker 1: huge roles, and once again the lack of respect by
Speaker 1: the enemy played to their advantage. That was certainly the
Speaker 1: case of Melita Norwood. She was an eighty seven year
Speaker 1: old British great grandmother when it was discovered that she
Speaker 1: had been flying way under the radar for decades as
Speaker 1: a spy, passing such valuable information to the Soviet Union
Speaker 1: that it was set She was instrumental in the Soviets
Speaker 1: rise as a nuclear power. Why wasn't she discovered earlier
Speaker 1: in her almost fifty years as a Soviet spy? Well,
Speaker 1: when she began her undercover career in the nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: one of the early British mi I five female spies
Speaker 1: expressed some suspicion about Melita, but her superior blew it off,
Speaker 1: saying women were incapable of being effective spies. So it
Speaker 1: seems that the ability to blend in can mean life
Speaker 1: or death in the world of espionage. Pretty obvious, and
Speaker 1: when certain people are overlooked and undervalued, they are perfect
Speaker 1: for undercover roles. So does it really surprise you that
Speaker 1: some of the most successful spies in history were female.
Speaker 1: Got a story you'd like me to look into and share?
Speaker 1: All you have to do is DM me on Facebook
Speaker 1: at Patty Steele or on Instagram at real Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
Speaker 1: at reel Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the backstory with Patty Steele, the
Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know